John Constantine
John Constantine was an occult detective and a working class magician from London. A smoker, Constantine normally gave off a narcissitic condescending attitude to those around him. Constantine's main purpose in life, however, was to ensure the balance of magic. He believed himself to be the guardian who would ensure that magic did not fall out of hand. Biography Origins An Englander from Liverpool, John Constantine travelled around the world to learn magic, though despite all his travels, was still relatively inexperienced. Despite this, John learned early on the consequences of magic and decided he would make sure nobody went too far cheating with magic. Despite this, Constantine could not help but deny the addiction of magic. Eventually John went to New York City to try and learn from Nick Necro, the best mage in the world at the time. Necro trained Constantine alongside Zatanna, the daughter of Giovannie. However, as John and Zatanna got closer, Necro abandoned the two. Eventually Necro, now part of the Cult of the Cold Flame, betrayed the two, though John, now much more adept at magic, banished Necro to hell. Constantine proceeded to take Necro's trenchcoat, making it his "iconic" trademark. John and Zatanna were on and off for some time after the incident, though their final meeting for years was when Giovanni Zatara recruited Constantine. During the fight against a Great Darkness, Constantine botched and allowed for Zatara to burn alive, thought assassinated. Almost everyone believed Constantine responsible, even the Englander himself. Though Zatanna knew for the assassin to be somebody else, she nevertheless refused to see her former lover. Upon returning to England, John ended up screwing up, getting his very presence in London being cursed. If he were ever to enter the city again, his brain would hemmhorage after a few minutes. After the curse, Constantine once again returned to NYC, where he resided in the territory of Papa Midnite. John lived in Dotty's Pet Store as the energies of the animals prevented his location from being discovered magically, Dotty also felt safter with John about. John learned several things from Dotty's husband George, that was until the latter passed away. After winning a card game, John proceeded to take possession of the House of Mystery. Forever Evil When the Enchantress went so insane that not even Superman could stop her, Constantine and Zatanna were forced to team up and combat the being. Joining them were Madame Xanadu, Deadman and Shade. They later found Xanadu to be behind the madness, an effort to get the heroes together. Eventually John began sufferinge from severe headaching dreams, forcing him, and the rest of the impromptu team, to return to Xanadu. After learning the headaches being glimpses from an unwanted future, the team once again banded together in Gotham City to stop the Vampire War. After the battle ended, the heroes once again went their seperate ways, with A.R.G.U.S. tempting Constantine looks inside the Black Room of S.T.A.R. Labs. Constantine also learned that the team had been labelled the Justice League Dark and he would be offered a look inside the Black Room if team Dark could stop Felix Faust. Dark's fights with Faust, ended up getting them aquainted with Doctor Mist and Constantine reaquainted with Nick Necro. Once again, Constantine triumphed over his former mentor. However, the Books of Magic teleported Zatanna and Timothy Hunter away somewhere, to a place John became desperate to find. Constantine was then warned of the Trinity War by the Phantom Stranger. After some craziness, John managed to rescue Zatanna and Timothy, though the latter ended up staying in Epoch. After the adventure ended, John angrily ended the Justice League Dark's ties with A.R.G.U.S., despite the warnings of Steve Trevor. John, after winning a horse race bet, learned he was being targetted by the Cult of the Cold Flame. From the horros, John was rescued by the Flash. The JLD, with the Flash, stopped Doctor Destiny, though Xanadu left the team after the violent encounter. John then took the Sounding Skull from Papa Midnite to stop the Cult of the Cold Flame. With a boy named Chris, John discovered the location of Croyden's Compass, a device designed by Angus Croyden. Heading to Norway with Chris to find the compass, John found the Cold Flame after him, resulting in Chris' unfortunate death. Soon after, John found himself to be under judgment by the Spectre, spared only when he stated he would stop the Cold Flame. Although John failed to get the Compass, he did ensure the Cold Flame would be unable to get it, resulting in him going to war with the cult. John was then kidnapped by Papa Midnite for taking the Sounding Skull, despite the circumstances behind the thievery. John managed to convince Midnite, though, to join forces with him against the Cold Flame. Shortly after, John came into contact with both Swamp Thing and Jonah Hex, and due to his nature, did not part amicably with either. Soon after, John was approached by Wonder Woman, who requested the help of the Justice League Dark in discovering how the box got Superman to kill Arthur Light. Despite not wanting to help Wonder Woman, John took her into the House of Mystery where he was met by an ensemble of League and JLA members, as well as Shazam. John approached Shazam, explaining that he knew all about the latter's fights with Black Adam and his real family. While the other heroes debated, John and Shazam left the House of Mystery, with John hoping to temporarily neutralize Shazam, as he had learned of what could happen if the hero touched Pandora's Box. After getting Shazam to transform into Batson, Constantine managed to swap voices with the boy, getting the ability to use the powers. However, before he could return the voice, Constantine was attacked by Mopmop, forcing him to use the powers himself. After defeating the demon, Billy got his powers back and left after being warned by Constantine about the box. Almost right after, John was attacked by Chris' ghost and the Cold Flame, but he was saved by Papa Midnite. Returning to the pet shop, Constantine found all of his equipment hijacked, their energy spread all over the world and Jainini Sargent lusting over him. However, he was able to take advantage of the situation and defeat Mister E and trap his spirit in a sword. Knowing Batson would not listen to his advice, Constantine arrived just in time before the reckless Shazam's actions got everybody else killed. Taking the box, knowing that it would not corrupt the corrupted, Constantine teleported away with Zatanna. The box, instead of taking Constantine to England, took him and Zatanna to the Temple of Hephaestus in Greece where he found Madame Xanadu bound to a chair. In the ensuing battle, the culmination of the Trinity War, the Crime Syndicate arrived and attacked the three Leagues. Due to the House of Mystery, however, John was teleported away and spared. Constantine awoke in the House of Mystery, after which he attempted to find the rest of the Justice League Dark. However, he found a blight of darkness growing on the Earth due to the Crime Syndicate. He was then found by the Nightmare Nurse who took the remnants of Pandora's Box out of him. Together the two, accompanied by Nurse's own personal Swamp Thing, went out to find Team Dark. Soon after, Constantine was joined by the real Swamp Thing and realized that to track the missing Justice Leagues, they would need to get past magical toxins produced by Blight. Confronting Blight, Constantine attempted to recruit the Trinity of Sin, with only the Question backing out. During the Blight Conflict, Constantine's group initially battled the manifestation in New York, then in Nan Madol with Deadman before recruiting Zauriel to their group. With Zauriel, the team was finally able to defeat Blight and get rid of the toxins blocking their path to the rest of the Justice Leaguers. Discovering Nick Necro and Felix Faust to be in charge of Project Thaumaton, a science-magic experiment designed to defeat the Anti-Monitor, Constantine led the magical beings in a battle at Nanda Parbat against them. Succeeding, John later ended relations with Zatanna and forfeit the House of Mystery to her as well. Powers Arguably the world's greatest mage, Constantine knew a variety of spells and hexes. However, he mostly used them when he wanted to get out a troublesome situation, collect an artificat or help perform some kind of an exorcism. John rarely ever used magic as an offensive tool, preferring to use mental strategies instead. The main magical abilities that John can use are, teleportation (albeit to a certain degree), immobilization, counter spells and electro and telekinesis.